Cat Inn, Mill Moor Road, Meltham

This page is a bare-bones entry for a specific location. More detailed information may eventually be added...

Details

location: Mill Moor Road, Meltham

status: exists but under a different use

category: beershop

A beerhouse situated next door to the original Wesleyan Chapel, with the Kitten beerhouse reportedly situated on the other side of the chapel.

Despite being named an "inn", it remained a beershop throughout its existence. An attempt to obtain a full licence at the Brewster Sessions of 1854 was unsuccessful.

The earliest recorded entry is the 1851 Census, where John Waterhouse (c.1798-1859) was the beer shop keeper. By 1871, his son John Waterhouse (1823-1890), who had previously worked as a clogger, had taken over and was listed in the Census as a beer seller. John's son Timothy (c.1850-1907) had taken over the Cat Inn by 1891, following the death of his father in February 1890. Timothy's sister Ann had an illegitimate son named Mitchel (or Mitchell) who lived with his uncle Timothy and married Alice Crosland in 1901. Mitchel died in early 1911 and his widow Alice is named as the beer house keeper of the Cat Inn in the 1911 Census.

John France Bamforth was the licencee from April 1912 until 1936, when the Cat Inn was recommended for closure under the terms of the Licensing (Consolidation) Act of 1910.

Licencees

26/Aug/1879 — John Waterhouse (also named as the owner of the premises)

04/Feb/1890 — licence transferred to Timothy Waterhouse

24/Aug/1897 — Timothy Waterhouse (also named as the owner)

03/Dec/1907 — licence transferred to Joshua William Heap

01/Dec/1908 — licence transferred to Mitchell Waterhouse

07/Feb/1911 — licence transferred to Alice Waterhouse (surname later crossed out and replaced with "Taylor")

02/Apr/1912 — licence transferred to John France Bamforth

09/Jan/1920 — Bentley & Shaw Ltd. (brewers of Lockwood) became the new owners

Events

26/Feb/1856 — John Waterhouse fined 2s. 6d. plus expenses for "having his house open for the sale of beer on Sunday morning"